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tv   Nightline  ABC  February 1, 2013 12:35am-1:05am PST

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a little bit closer all i wanna know is can you come a little closer ♪ >> jimmy: tegan and sara, "heartthrob" is the new cd. you see a bonus song at jimmykimmellive.com. i want to thank them, jennifer lawrence, katie couric. i want to apologize to matt damon, we did run out of time for him tonight. "nightline" is next. thank you for watching. good night. tonight on "nightline," xxx revenge. they never thought their most intimate photos would end up online, complete with their
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names. even addresses. now they're fighting back against so called revenge porn websites. forget minivans, meet the thrill-seeking monster truck moms, making it big in the macho world of rough and tumble destruction. would you guys mind standing? >> beyonce's star spangled comeback. ♪ o say can you see >> as she comes clean about the inauguration lip-synch dust-up and what to expect on super bowl sunday.
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from new york city, this is "nightline" with cynthia mcfadden. >> good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden, and tonight, exposed online.
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websites where private, intimate photos of unsuspecting women are up loaded without their knowledge for anyone to see. it's called revenge porn, and it's frequently the work of jilted ex-lovers or hackers. the intention to shame and humiliate. but now, a group of women is fighting back, going after one website, its host, and even its fans. here's abc's juju chang. >> reporter: these women are seeking justice against a sliver of x-rated cyber sites known as revenge porn where people post explicit photos of their exes out of spieste. >> i thought people have real porn to look at with consensual women. >> reporter: m >> reporter: mariana told us she had just turned 18 when she sent
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photos to her sweetheart. how did he get you to take the picture? >> he was like i love you, i would never do that, i would never want to share you with anyone. and now five years later, it's coming back to haunt me. >> jimmy: have you confronted him? >> yes, i have. i asked him to take it down. and, of course, he denied it. he posted pictures of 14 of his ex-girlfriends, so it's pretty easy to narrow down who it is. >> i couldn't breathe, and then i started crying. like uncontrollably. because i felt really helpless. >> reporter: holly has no idea who did it, but when she saw a dozen topless photos of her, she became outraged that whoever stole the images also posted her name and personal information. >> knowing that someone could with the click of a button take whatever information they wanted from you and share it is really troubling. it also makes me want to shower with my clothes on.
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>> the fallout is terrible. some women have lost their jobs as a result of this. most of them have become hermits. all of them feel humiliated. >> reporter: john morgan filed the lawsuit against godaddy.com, which provides web space for mainstream businesses. the class action lawsuit began with 17 women and they've been joined by dozens of others in less than two weeks. >> i'm also getting a lot of e-mails and calls from women who have been victimized by other sites. >> reporter: the lawsuit claims invasion of privacy under texas state law. these sites, they say, are designed to cause humiliation and emotional distress. some even call it involuntary porn. >> revenge porn has been turned to cyber rain, because they take photos of women for the purpose of dehumanizing them, for the purpose of degrading them, and they go even further. if they know the names, they
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post the names. they almost always post the names. if they have the address, they'll post the address. >> reporter: what's the point of that? >> because they are targeting and stalking these women. and the worst part is they seem to enjoy it. it seems to be a sport, a very, very sick sport for people responsible. >> i was approached in walmart by a complete stranger, an older man probably in his 50s telling me he saved my photos to his computer. i literally ran away from this guy. i was so terrified because now my safety is involved. >> reporter: kelly hinson is also pregnant and seeing intimate images of herself online has left her emotionally shattered. >> oh, gosh. i was almost hospitalized because high-risk pregnancy. can't sleep. it's horrible. you're plastered all over this
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site and your family sees it and you just think okay, great, i can't have a kid in this area because everyone's going to remember this. >> reporter: but revenge porn sites often operate cloaked in secrecy. >> they can create phony e-mail addresses, phony names, phony information. so long as they register the domain and pay for it, the internet domain is theirs. >> reporter: so you're suing people who have made up identities. >> that's correct. absolutely. >> reporter: in fact, the women's lawyer sent an e-mail threatening to repost the names and addresses for all the world to see simply because they came forward to expose the man who exposed so much of them. >> i know that the name that was used is going to be a false name. however, it's a gmail address. so the address exists. >> reporter: but they just made a footprint in cyber space. >> my job is to gather the footprints and then have the appropriate professionals who can put them together and find
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out which shoe fits and then find the owner of the shoe. >> reporter: what makes this case unusual is that they're also going after the subscriber list to tear the mask of anonymity from the people who prowl these sites. why shame the subscribers? why expose the guys who are looking at this? >> they're just as guilty. they should be held accountable because they're logging on, they're putting their credit card in, they're paying to see us exploited. and, again, if there wasn't those disgusting people paying, then maybe there wouldn't be a website. >> reporter: eric goldman, who teaches high-tech law, says their legal case is weak because courts have ruled repeatedly that websites and web hosts like godaddy.com are not legally responsible for material other people post. >> the plaintiff can't win against the web host, against the texxxans.com website, due to
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a law that congress enacted that said the only people liable for content online are the people who post it. >> reporter: but texxxan.com is no longer up, saying it was simply built as an image submission platform that could have taken many different routes and we are now assessing situation after seeing controversy. >> the websites are going to die by their our power. they won't survive not because of the law, but because the marketplace will drum them out. >> reporter: in fact, there's a petition to end revenge porn with more than 1,100 signatures and growing on change.org. but these women are painfully aware that they've lost control of their own images, as well as their reputations. >> on the website, he was calling us his exploits, and, you know, talking about us like we're sluts. >> reporter: but they feel their only recourse is to speak out, even if the backlash at times is as hash as the initial betrayal. >> it's totally stressful.
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it's been eating me up. but coming forward and speaking out about it has really made me feel a little bit stronger and less hopeless. >> reporter: what would you say to other young girls who are being asked by their boyfriends to send sexy photos? >> find another boyfriend who won't ask you. >> reporter: because love may not last forever, but digital images just might. for "nightline," i'm juju chang in beaumont, texas. up next, meet the fearless moms balancing family life, not by driving a minivan, but by racing monster trucks. and...done. did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt us? oh no, i... just used my geico app to get a tow truck. it's gonna be 30 minutes. oh, so that means that we won't be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh.
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full-time moms, part-time monster truck drivers. you heard me. in the hypermasculine world of giant trucks, a small group of women are bark and crashing their way to the top. but how do they balance that rough and tumble world with the pressures of family life? abc's tonya rivey v rivera won' for herself. >> reporter: no minivans here. these fierce and fearless women prefer monster trucks. >> you get up in the morning, i love going to work. love going see the kids and driving trucks and crushing stuff. >> reporter: there's a new breed of driver in this macho world and she's a mom. meet michelle simpson and nancy
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weston. going up against the guys all while balancing the demands of family life. a lot of working moms would look at you and say -- >> crazy. >> reporter: crazy! but for nancy, monster trucks are family. the west ends are on the road weeks at a time and her two sons ages 7 and 9 are also drivers. her lawyer husband keeps things running behind the scenes. >> we have a family motor sport company. we call it uncle todd motor sports. my husband and i travel around the united states. >> reporter: but the nice thing is that you get to do something with your family. this doesn't take you away from your family. >> this is a family tight knit operation. when we're not monster truck racing, we have a family business at our office. >> reporter: fancy than sis is a big star here. her pink monster truck a huge draw for a new breed of fan. >> my truck would definitely be hot pink with spankles. >> reporter: sponsorships are essential to keep the operation running.
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the west end owns several trucks and at a quarter a million a pop since constant maintenance costs are high and the competition is fierce. but both nancy and michelle insists they feel totally accepted by the male drivers. do you ever feel any resentment when the woman takes away the trophy? >> i bet he got teased by the men in the pits. >> reporter: both women have family in the sport. michelle's husband is also a driver. while the men say they have no problem competing with the women, losing to them is another matter. >> absolutely nobody wants to get beat by a girl. nobody. she has taken out some big name trucks. they do not like that. >> reporter: since women are still quite rare, they are a novelty draw, which after all is good for business, a fact not lost on the promoters or michelle's boss. >> it is awesome. when she got done out there, i told my other drivers i need three more just like her.
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she's 90 pounds of wild woman. >> reporter: these days the real audience for monster trucks isn't the big burly gear heads, though there are still plenty of those. it's families. >> without the kids, monster trucks would have been done a long time ago. it's all about family for us. >> reporter: like nancy, i'm a mom to two boys, so to save face, i thood give one a spin. i donned the fireproof suit and climbed into big foot. it's like an amusement park ride here. these things can and do flip over, so safety is taken very seriously, and to me the scariest part is being strapped in so tight i can't move my head, neck, or torso, limiting my field of vision. this is not for the claustrophobic. >> let me know when your lap belt -- >> it's already uncomfortable. >> reporter: but once you get going, there is no denying the thrill.
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and for the record, i would have crushed these cars, but my producers wouldn't let me. still, i can see why the ladies like it. i felt like i was king of the road. >> your heart is still pumping. i get a little shaky. it's like let's do it again, i want to go back out. >> reporter: and they are paving the way for the next generation. meet 14-year-old rising star cassie berry, aka demolition diva. >> i've been around that since i was real little. >> reporter: cassie drives freestyle with nancy's boys. >> with the boys, it makes you step it up a notch and get yourself going so you can show yourself what you can do. and then show everybody else. >> reporter: and looks up to nancy for the blueprint, not just for a career, how to get the right endorsements and make a living in this rough and tumble world, but also how to
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have a life. so whether she ends up driving a monster truck or a car pool or both, she'll be crushing it. >> what a ride. just ahead, beyonce faces the music, explaining why she lip-synched at the national inauguration and what we should expect super bowl sunday. to the best vacation spot on earth. (all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. we're having such a great year on the gulf, we've decided to put aside our rivalry. now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride, go fishing or just lay in the sun. we've got coastline to explore and wildlife to photograph.
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and there's world class dining with our world famous seafood. so for a great vacation this year, come to the gulf. its all fabulous but i give florida the edge. right after mississippi. you mean alabama. say louisiana or there's no dessert. this invitation is brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette you celebrate a little win. nicorette gum helps calm your cravings and makes you less irritable. quit one cigarette at a time.
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well, just over a week after a lip-synching brouhaha turned the presidential inauguration into national anthem gate, today beyonce answered her critics with an unexpected repeat performance. this time, completely a cappella, completely live, and completely flawless. abc's paula faris has the story.
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>> reporter: you could call it a comeback. beyonce walked to the front of the stage and faced the music about her inaugural lip-synch scandal with this. ♪ o say, can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ >> reporter: belting out the national anthem a cappella at her super bowl press conference today, no prerecorded tracks. ♪ what so proudly we hailed >> reporter: it was much different than this. her controversial performance at the presidential inauguration just ten days ago. it all started when the marine corps band admitted they weren't actually playing instruments during the inaugural performance and claimed she was lip-synching. in the days following, beyonce had been notably silent. the media not so much.
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>> it's very common practice for performers to use a pre-recorded track at a very important event like this. we all knew all along that beyonce had a great voice. so it was great to see her prove that and put this to rest. >> reporter: today beyonce finally came clean about the supposed scandal. >> due to the weather, due to the delay, due to no proper sound check, i did not feel comfortable taking a risk. i decided to sing along with my pre-recorded track. >> reporter: the nfl typically requires its performers to submit pre-recorded tracks a week before the game. whitney houston and michael jackson have both lip-synched. and madonna was ridiculed after last year's performance. >> i would say her performance at the super bowl was not her best and she was not completely on cue, she missed some of her notes. that's an example when pre-recorded tracks can go wrong.
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>> reporter: the black eyed peas didn't in 2011 but probably should have. as for beyonce, she's not tipping her hand on what she'll sing, but we do know how she'll sing. >> i will absolutely be singing live. i am well-rehearsed. and i will absolutely be singing live. this is what i was born to do. >> reporter: and while she may have won many fans with her star spangled smackdown today, sunday provides her best chance to score redemption. >> i think what beyonce needs to do at the super bowl on sunday is sing her hits, give a die famic, charismatic performance that we all know she's capable of. >> reporter: a chance to silence her critics super bowl style. ♪ the brave thank you guys so much. >> reporter: you show 'em, beyonce. it's time now for our closing
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argument. today, former republican senator chuck hagel faced a barrage of combative questions at his confirmation hearing as defense secretary. the toughest questions came from senator john mccain. >> will you please answer the question? were you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? yes or no. >> my reference to -- >> are you going to answer the question, senator hagel? the question is were you right or wrong? that's a pretty straight forward question. >> well, do you think senator hagel is qualified to take the top post at the pentagon? why or why not? tell us what you think on the "nightline" facebook page, or you can tweet us. thanks for watching abc news. "good morning america" will be here waiting for you in the morning with the latest on the buildup to super bowl sunday. we're always online at abcnews.com. good night, america.

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